2 weeks ago
Allahabad High Court acquits doctor jailed in POCSO case
A well-known heart doctor was accused of hurting his little daughter.
His wife, who is also a doctor, said the girl told her about a 'bad touch' during a holiday with her father.
A lower court believed the accusation and sent the father and his brother to jail for life.
The family asked the Allahabad High Court, a higher court, to check the case again.
The judges found that the mother and father were having a big fight over money and where to build a hospital.
They believed the little girl may have been coached by her mother to say bad things about her father.
The judges saw photos of the girl happily hugging her father and heard that the helpers in the father's house said nothing bad about him.
The judges decided the girl's words could not be trusted because they thought she was repeating what her mother taught her.
So the court set the father and his brother free and said they did not do these things.
The Allahabad High Court acquitted a leading Uttarakhand cardiologist and his brother of all charges in a POCSO case alleging sexual assault of his minor daughter.
The doctor had been in jail for over one-and-a-half years after a Special POCSO Court in Varanasi sentenced him and his brother to life imprisonment in February 2025.
His wife, an ENT specialist, lodged an FIR on June 8, 2018, after their daughter described a 'bad touch' during a 10-day stay with her father in Uttarakhand in March 2018.
A division bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Jai Krishan Upadhyay concluded the mother had tutored the child amid a marital and financial dispute over building a hospital.
The bench cautioned that child witness evidence should be considered with 'great sagacity' when the POCSO Act is used as an instrument by one parent against the other.
- Who
- A leading cardiologist from Uttarakhand and his brother, who were accused by the doctor's wife, an ENT specialist, of sexually assaulting their minor daughter.
- What
- The Allahabad High Court acquitted the cardiologist and his brother of all charges in a POCSO Act case, overturning life sentences imposed by a Varanasi trial court.
- Where
- The acquittal was ordered by the Allahabad High Court; the case was investigated by Uttarakhand Police and tried by a Special POCSO Court in Varanasi.
- When
- The High Court verdict was delivered on a Thursday; the FIR was lodged on June 8, 2018, and the trial court conviction came in February 2025.
- Why
- The bench concluded the child's testimony was unreliable, finding she had been tutored by her mother amid a marital and financial dispute.
Complainant's side (wife/mother)
Defense and High Court's side
Truthfulness of the child's accusation
Complainant's side (wife/mother)
The mother says her daughter described 'bad touch' and sexual assault during a 10-day stay with her father in Uttarakhand, and a trial court accepted these charges as proven.
Defense and High Court's side
The High Court held the child was tutored by her mother during the marital dispute, noting photographs show a warm father-daughter relationship and servants in the father's house said nothing against him.
Reason for the delayed FIR
Complainant's side (wife/mother)
The mother said she delayed filing the case for two months out of concern for her family's reputation and her father's illness.
Defense and High Court's side
The High Court rejected this explanation, saying the delay was part of a manoeuvred plan to indict the husband with offences that would carry life imprisonment.
Key facts
- Court
- Allahabad High Court
- Bench
- Justices Siddhartha Varma and Jai Krishan Upadhyay
- Accused
- Leading cardiologist of Uttarakhand and his brother
- Complainant
- Wife of the accused, an ENT specialist doctor
- FIR date
- June 8, 2018
- Trial court
- Special POCSO Court, Varanasi (life imprisonment in February 2025)
- Acquittal
- All charges dropped on appeal
- Bail history
- Cardiologist granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2019 after about a year in jail; jailed again after the 2025 conviction
Quotes
Justices Siddhartha Varma and Jai Krishan Upadhyay
Allahabad High Court division bench
“We would like to add that in cases in which the Pocso Act is being used as an instrument to accuse either of the parents, then the evidence of a child witness should be considered with great sagacity.”
indianexpress.com
indianexpress.com
“We also find that the victim had been with the mother since 2017…”
indianexpress.com
Sources
Related news
Kerala High Court Quashes POCSO Conviction, Citing Serious Doubts
Kerala man acquitted in POCSO case over daughter's assault allegations
Marol Photographer Gets 20 Years for Assaulting 11-Year-Old Cousin
Delhi High Court Acquits Man in POCSO Sexual Assault Case
Gujarat High Court Denies Doctor Bail in Abortion Case
Man Arrested in Kerala Over Alleged Videos and Child Abuse
Rohit Chandel POCSO Case Faces Setback Over Document Errors
Kerala High Court Upholds Conviction Over Kissing Child’s Genitals
Kerala HC Rules POCSO Overrides Muslim Marriage Law
Delhi Nursery Student Allegedly Assaulted; School Bus Driver Arrested
Private Educational Institutions Form Crisis Support Association in Bengal
